It’s Tuesday and the Canucks are practising for the first time since the weekend.

What a weekend it was, by the way.

There was a players’-only meeting initiated by Markstrom, who was spurred to action by his harsh assessment of himself and his teammates.

And then there was the collective response. A win in Dallas, the most complete of the season.

Players were feeling hopeful, and by hopeful I mean they were looking at the final two months and feeling like it would be different from the Willie free-fall which has crushed the Canucks’ spirits two straight years.

However, fearing another post-win sag was coming — which would be deja vu for this squad — Green huddled his group up at the end of that Tuesday practice.

He drove home a message. His guys couldn’t get caught admiring themselves and a win again. Not this time.

“(The talk was) we can’t get too high on ourselves to think we can just come in, lace them up and it’s going to be another win for us,” Horvat explained.

“(Green) basically said we had to come out hard tonight, and that (Dallas) game didn’t mean anything.”

Instead, the Canucks came out, gave up a ton of chances and four first-period goals, and lost another game before it really started.

There was poor goaltending. Of course there was, and that’s been a theme all season.

But there were a series of sloppy plays and when it was over, Green went through them all in a post-game presser in which he was as honest as he’s been all year.

GREEN: “We lose a puck battle in the offensive zone and they score.”

GREEN: “We ice a puck we don’t have to ice and they score.”

GREEN: “We turn the puck over and they score.”

BEST QUOTE

“He’s hog-tied down by his head.

“I’m not sure what the veteran captain is thinking.”

— Panthers broadcast on Henrik.

Hey, mistakes happen. To all of us.

But this game ended bizarrely.

Started that way too for Henrik.

Henrik is a mentor. The culture carrier. One of the key veterans who is being entrusted to teach the youngest on the team how to win.

He iced the puck in the first, which led to a goal against.

And he took that penalty in the third which essentially ended any chance the team had of a late tying goal.

Any kind of penalty in the offensive zone with less than three minutes left is generally not wise.

You can get away with a lot too.

But you can’t get away with this.

Henrik is trying to be hard on the puck here, OK.

But it sure looks like there’s some frustration on the play on his part.

That’s just not typical Henrik. It wasn’t a good night.

BEST PLAY

All that said, that Sedins set piece off the face-off, the one that Boeser scored on, was the prettiest play of the game.

The stick that caught Stecher in his face, and resulted in a two-minute penalty — not a double minor.

Green didn’t fight the call much, though he would later label it strange.

Horvat: “I don’t get it. It’s either four or it’s not a penalty.”

And it sure seemed like it was going to be four.

Well, because the ref said it was four.

Somehow a bizarre middle ground was reached where it was determined MDZ’s stick started it all, but a two-minute penalty still stood.

Things didn’t get any easier for Stecher later in the game.

This flying elbow rode Stecher’s own stick into his face and reopened it.

The official were actually going to call offsetting penalties here because Stecher knocked the puck out of play.

At least the Canucks got a power play.

That was a brutal elbow too.

Quite the cheap shot.

BEST STORY

I wasn’t in the Florida locker room postgame.

So I owe a nod here to NHL.com’s Kevin Woodley who was there, listening to a group of players who today were struck personally, and deeply, by a catastrophic mass shooting close to their homes in Broward County.

If you read one tweet on this shooting, which last I saw left 17 dead, let it be this one.

It just f’n wrecked me.

HEARTBREAKING: Text message from student to parent during Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting. Thankfully, this child is safe. pic.twitter.com/YPIz1mRUcq

I think all of what follows, the Florida Panthers’ POV on this, is incredibly important and meaningful, and in many ways more so than anything that happened in the game.

So courtesy of Woodley, who did the work here and let me put it in this space, this is what the Panthers said.

Bob Boughner: “It was a crazy afternoon, obviously, trying to get a hold of everybody back home and make sure everyone is OK.

“We understand the suffering and the devastation back home. We talked about it before the game, and trying to represent some pride for our community back home.

“I know the guys had some heavy hearts playing out there, so I think it was difficult and it was a game where we had a lot going on in the background.”

Jamie McGinn (he was asked about game right away, but said he wanted to talk shooting first):

“I just want to touch on what happened earlier, thoughts and prayers are going out to all the people in Florida with the tragedy.

“It’s a very sad, sad day and our thoughts are with them and we feel for them.”

Derek MacKenzie (hisvoice cracking late in his answer):

“It was pretty sombre.

“I think it goes to show the character in the room.

“We talked about getting two points and kind of dedicating this win to everybody back home, and what can I say?

“It’s a sad day. I wish I was there right now to talk to my family and neighbours and everyone that has obviously been affected by this, but we can’t be there so the next best thing is come back and win.”

BENNING: “If there’s something that makes sense for us to get better, or to add picks, we’ll look to do that.

“We will be as active as we can be.”

OK.

I like this.

That does sound good.

BEST NO HOPE

BENNING: “I think going forward, picks and prospects are going to be like gold. It’s going to be harder to do some of the deals that we’ve done in the past.”

That does not sound good. No, not at all.

BEST LMAO USAGE

BEST CONSCIOUS CHOICE MADE

BEST SELL JOB

I know the Canucks like Brisebois.

It was a running story brought up a few times way back at Young Stars in Penticton in September.

Still, it stopped me cold when JPat asked how this blueline is going to be fixed and after mentioning Juolevi, Benning lit up:

“Brisebois is having an excellent year in Utica for us as a first-year pro.

“He’s playing around 20 minutes a night.

“We talked to RJ and he says he’s playing in all situations now.

“He’s an excellent skater. He’s mobile. He can jump up in the play.

“The thing RJ is most happy about is his conviction to defend and be in the battles.”

Look, I’m not saying Brisebois isn’t going to make it.

Maybe he will.

He’s still a distance away from being a blue-chip guy you hold up in a presser today.

Brisebois could be a third-pairing defenceman for the Canucks in a couple of years.

He does shoot left and this is a team on the left side that already has Hutton, Pouliot, MDZ and Juolevi coming, and you can include Holm.

Interesting, the Comets have played Brisebois mostly on the right side this year.

Not sure this will matter to Green, who constantly talks about wanting a R-L combo on all of his pairings.

BEST BRINGING THE CITY TOGETHER

No matter which side you favour in this civil war, the one which has engulfed the city’s hockey fans, it’s been a fortunate turn for all that the Canucks’ management has failed spectacularly in achieving its short-term goals, which were apparently to recreate the Kiprusoff-Iginla-era Flames.

Bottoming out has already given the Canucks the opportunity to trade Burrows-for-Dahlen, draft Pettersson, Juolevi and Lind, and is promising the team another shot or two at some elite talent in the 2018 draft.

I can’t imagine the reaction right now if the Canucks were on their way to another 18th-place finish, their third straight year of being in the playoff race until the final week of the season, and another draft pick in the 11-13 range.

Despite their best efforts to the contrary, the Canucks have tanked with the best of them and that has to bring this city together.

BEST TEARING THE CITY APART

Unfortunately, it takes more than tanking to put together a winner.

Hell, it takes more than winning the lottery and getting a generational talent too.

See Edmonton OFC.

There’s a complete job to be done here, which is why I hoped the Canucks would see that there’s been something missing in their front office.

That despite the wins at the draft, they have only added one impact player to the NHL team in four years.

Hey, I love Pettersson and Demko.

After that, things are a lot less sure among the prospects.

You need to find players who can help win a Cup.

How many do they have on the roster right now?

BEST FLIP SIDE OF OUR CIVIL WAR

#Canucks twitter meltdown is hilarious, JB extended was the right call y’all need to get over it. Gillis homers are crying 😂 look at the state he left the team in 😂😂😂

Time stamp on this is after 9 a.m. The Canucks didn’t make it official until a press release after 10:30, announcing the extension and a noon press conference.

From the media’s perspective, it had a haphazard feel, which is not the norm around here.

The Benning deal was closed late Tuesday, and he is travelling with the team to San Jose, so today was the day.

But why not announce it first thing?

You know, before JPat starts messing with everyone.

Someone joked (I think) that the Canucks were worried a negative reaction early in the morning would have changed the Aquilinis’ decision and they would have done to Jim what McDaniels did to the Colts.

BEST TIMING

There are two overriding questions to come out of today’s extension announcement about timing.

One, is the “why now?”

Linden made his decision on Benning a long while ago.

So what was the trigger which got the deal closed Tuesday?

The second is: What took so long?

The rumours were everywhere by the weekend Linden had reached an agreement with Benning and was waiting for ownership’s final stamp of approval.

Something changed in the last week.

I believe the owners were torn, like many of the fans caught in the middle.

Despite the rap on the Aquilinis, they’re not dense.

They really liked the Canucks’ improvement with the draft.

They did not like some of the contracts and veteran acquisitions.

How do you wrestle with that?

How do you decide where to fall?

They definitely took their time.

Do I think TL16 applied some real pressure on them to get it done before the deadline?

I tend to think so.

And if the deadline for the Canucks is as quiet as some are predicting, it’s with good reason.

Because if the Canucks preach getting “faster and younger” and “draft and develop” and do nothing at a deadline in a season where they have no hope in hell of making the playoffs, there is a part of this town which is going to lose its collective mind.

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